So, we hiked up Volcano Acatenango on Thursday. Climbing up a hill made of dirt and gravel it was most akin to. Each step was always accompanied by the fear of a slip. 26 footfalls raised a cloud of powder in our line of 13 tourists from around the world. We hiked up for 6 hours starting in farm fields going through forests into the clouds. The forests became rainforest and strange plants were everywhere. Higher we climbed to our campsite below the summit. The view was massive, Fuego lay like a gray corpse. Agua towers green, quiet, vigilant, always present. We even saw Fuego send up a puff or two.
Clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. The sun fell behind the ridge and the temperature fell below tolerable. The guides made a fire but the wind relentlessly whipped the heat away. My layers provided a barrier to the cold but it was not enough to chase exhaustion and the wind away. Jill and I stayed up for a supper of rice and other things. The taste was outweighed by the thought of sleeping bags. We went to our tent ASAP. The only problems were our tent was taking gusts of wind that were threatening to blow it over and there was rain. The wind was enough to cause a sleepless night. The sopping rainfly being pressed against the tent caused a slow drip onto my sleeping bag. At around the middle of the night I thought I should go outside to pee and check the tent stakes. During a sleepless night with wind buffeting the tent this is what one does at that time. I happened to look up in my wandering and the clouds were rushing by, between I could see the stars, a city, and the glowing red top of Fuego. It was amazing. I crawled back to bed with magic in my head and sleep overtook me. When the drips intruded upon my warmth I awoke. Breakfast was uninspired. The warm water I drank was the only thing memorable. Our goal in the morning was only the hike down because summiting Aca would’ve given only more view of cloud. Down down we went through a beautiful rain forest our guide called the Jewel of Acatenango. Farther farther my toes took me more than they could muster. My big toenails were unhappy. They brought me to the base but I will pay for it a while. We’d had the trip with a pro photographer so I’ll have many more pictures as soon as she gets to them. Until then that is our trip on the volcano.
